#ASKDJFH PLEASE BE GENTLE

[myaoiboy]

Hi I saw that you answered an ask* the other day and I wanted to know if you continued with your analysis or if you could continue. I was really interested and curious to know more about it. I really wanted to know what you had to say, seriously, I could read a bible of Death Stranding reviews!

*https://www.tumblr.com/myaoiboy/739740134244794368/death-stranding-gender-talk-you-say-count-me-in?source=share

Hi! I totally can keep talking about Death Stranding forever (I know it's a very divisive game but imo on the whole the writing is like a well-oiled machine in ways that MGS just barely started to scrape askdjfh)

For the most part I haven't talked a *ton* about it at length because the series is just getting started and I feel weird making assertions that are likely to be fully subverted within a year or two. MGS has like. well, now, 25 years of shit going on. Sequels, prequels, fanon, etc., that Death Stranding...hasn't really had time to grow into yet.

I also tend to intentionally only post for dead series because the fandoms tend to be chiller lmao

Plus the fact that I got into DS right around the time that DS2 was announced, so I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs knowing that there's about to be more content and context that I just don't have access to yet. I already feel like there's a lot more to be learned about the first game, just from the latest trailer drop.

Honestly I think the thing that really gets me with DS is that despite the borderline insanity of the setting, to me, there's a lot of dramatic irony and meta knowledge that makes DS pretty easy to follow compared to, like, any single MGS game. Maybe I'm just the exact target audience that the writing was intended for, but most of the big reveals felt less like a sucker punch and more of a dramatic swell.

Some reasons for this (please be gentle i am taking cutscene SCs from youtube videos, they're gonna look like shit):

First of all, this is basically frame 1 of being formally introduced to Amelie, we see...this lens flare. Look familiar?

...how about now?

We are introduced to her instantly with a sign of danger. A pretty one, but a sign of danger nonetheless. The fact that it's an inverted rainbow is important! It shows up around timefall because of chiral air disturbance. We don't know that yet in-game, but if you know about how light works you know that there's something Wrong(tm) about this.

A regular lens flare shouldn't be causing an inverted rainbow if it's causing one at all. I think in this cutscene Amelie's presence is causing that inverted rainbow. Throughout the game, people come up with various theories of their own to excuse her connection to the beach. Little do they know at the time how right they are...

She's also heavily backlit, which hides her features in an unsettling manner. In fact, I really can't think of anyone else that this happens to throughout the game (if anyone knows of another example PLEASE let me know!!!)

She gets pretty damn close before that rainbow disappears, but this is where I very quickly lost my initial trust in her (as the player).

I jokingly called called this her "Fox News reporter look," but it's very much constructed in a way that made me suspicious.

Let's talk about that red dress.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Kojima fucking LOVES using color language, especially red, blue, and gold. It's been super obvious and explicit since like 2012.

The fact that we meet her wearing a red dress is not a coincidence!!! It's a great big flashing warning sign! It says "hey, this person is going to betray you! Do Not Fucking Trust!!!"

Compare Amelie's name card to Paz's from Peace Walker:

The art styles are different, but there are a couple of main throughlines. Namely, both have an emphasis on the color red, both are young (looking) women who are lying about their identities in order to ask the main character a favor. Characters vouch for them, from trusted advisors, to the main character himself in DS. And then they try to bring about armageddon.

Basically what I'm saying is that they're both the embodiment of white woman tears a wolf in sheep's clothing, if the sheep's clothing was still dripping in blood. We (characters, and maybe the players) believe that she's on our side because we want to believe she's on our side, and because other people that we ostensibly trust tell us she's on our side, while the extremely dissonant narrative and imagery of the scene are SHAKING US BY THE SHOULDERS TELLING US TO SNAP OUT OF IT.

Add to that the fact that we kind of vaguely, through that intro cutscene post-central knot explosion, know that the beach is connected to dying somehow, and that amelie seems to be on it, doing very stereotypical little girl in horror things there, like singing nursery rhymes slowly while walking into the ocean.

So we've basically been told that Amelie is Not Good, but we have to spend the game piecing together what kind of Not Good she is. The first hint is (surprise!) also in this cutscene!

I don't recall off the top of my head if I knew at the time how heavily egyptian mythology plays into DS, but I do remember this cutscene giving me a bad gut feeling about the concept of the West.

Very few Big Concepts in these games (the West, strand(s/ing), patriotism/nationalism, etc) are only symbolic of one thing. That's also true across the board in basically all art, but I feel the need to point that out in public posts because I don't want someone to eg, think that I say something means one thing, and then back that up, and then people think that means it can't mean something else! It can (and often does) mean both! and sometimes that additional meaning is super important!

Anyways, Die Hardman refers to Amelie going West. We don't really use that phrasing much, so it stuck out to me as euphemistic. Especially since we saw her after we died, and there's so much euphemism going on from the bridges team anyways. I mean, cufflinks "symbolize our connection?" Girl, you locked me to my bed with them. You drain my blood with them to turn into weapons. Call 'em what they are.

You'll even notice in the same cutscene that Amelie says "we made it to Edge Knot City" and Sam replies with "all the way to the Pacific?" Not "all the way to the west coast," or even a single question about why she was on the/his beach.

If you know anything about egyptian mythology, you might know that west is considered the direction of death and the underworld. ancient egyptians buried dead people on the west side of the nile river. Osiris, god of death and mummification, and king of the underworld, is referred to as "foremost of the westerners" among his epithets.

So the vibe that I got instantly was "Amelie is already dead, she led her team to die, and they are basically sending Sam on a suicide mission" though I didn't realize exactly how I was right at the time.

The other big thing I recall setting off my alarm bells as the game went on was the fact that nobody you meet has ever met Amelie in person. It's a very slow reveal, especially since most people seem to see online meeting and in person meeting to be mostly the same, and we're told that she set out with bridges one. That she went west. Turns out that...also wasn't literal.

I don't remember exactly when I started wondering if *sam* had ever even met her outside of the beach, but I do remember thinking that there was something off. For a little bit my guess was that she was entirely fictional, some sort of AI (pretty influenced by all the "dead person brought back by AI/hypno bullshit ngl), or maybe that Higgs could somehow disguise himself in the Beach in ways i didn't understand yet.

But I didn't feel *worse* for being able to figure things out ahead of time, I felt clever that I could piece together all the little hints and have a good idea of what was going on. It made death stranding feel more like a coherent sci fi narrative rather than a cheesy action story that's expected to follow certain strict genre conventions.

Not that I'm saying mgs or action in general are bad, but rather that imo Death Stranding feels...more mature and confident in some ways (and also isn't bogged down by 20 years of previous work. which. i don't even like my own shit from a year ago half the time, i cannot imagine having to write within the constraints you created TWO DECADES prior kjhksjfh). Maybe it's that it feels like less of a genre subversion and has more genre utilization? dunno. Now I'm thinking too much like an english major lkajshdf

But yeah anybody who wants to talk about anything totally feel free. Or if you want to give me prompts to write about. I will always be willing to talk about things for way too long on the internet. I just don't always reply quickly because I start rambling....Like This.

[littlespoonevan]

i will admit it (if you admit it) 

Pairing: Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 8094

Summary:

“Buck,” Eddie tries again, voice pillowy soft. “Let me help. I know you don’t want to talk to Bobby but at least talk to me. I’m your best friend.”

He bites the inside of his cheek, eyes burning as his fingers clench around the door handle.

“I- I don’t know why you felt like you had to go to that lawyer instead of coming to me but we can figure this out, okay? We’ll figure it out.”

It’s agony staying still, agony not to rip the door open and hug Eddie as tight as he can and say he’s sorry and can they please fix this. But he does it. He doesn’t move, doesn’t react at all, and after the longest two minutes of his life he hears a noise that could be Eddie sighing on the other side of the door.

“Fine. But don’t say I didn’t try.”

Eddie’s footsteps are only audible for a few seconds before he’s out of earshot and Buck lets out the wounded noise he’d been holding in as soon as he’s sure he’s gone.

*

In which Buck discovers the road home is a lot more complicated than he'd first thought.

read here on ao3

@evanbucxley @mellaithwen @seacoloredeyes @hmslusitania @hattalove @elvensorceress @wilddragonflying @paranoidbean @eastofoktober @bucksbuddie @megslovesbooks @fleurdebeton @elenaazra @azuresoulsblog @alex1424 @mmtions @midnightxscape @vilanaxxa @hearteyesdiaz @bat-a-tat-tat @wildlife4life @himbodiaz @mxrilynxnne @nouseance @athousandsplendidfreckles @fraddit @kathrynduske @simwizard43  @rutherfordbz  @wherediputtheeggs  @finduilasclln @constructiononsunsett  @leothil @karmilleryn @heretohelptheidiots @thesetwoorthosetwo @everexpandingheart @messyhairdiaz @the-skeptic-pancake  @majesticlymortal @diazboysbuckley @swiftiesisters14  @stellarm @chobani-flip

Let me know if you want to be added/removed 💕

[littlespoonevan]

Ok now I have to ask: Top 5 Buck + Christopher moments? 💖

oh my god all of them???? okay let's try and break this down

5. 3x01 - Buck and Chris’ conversation on the pier

okay okay, imminent tsunami notwithstanding, i love this scene. i love the way they’re positioned with christopher standing up to look at the water and buck holding his t-shirt. i love their conversation and chris’ little “you’re gonna be okay kid” and gentle face pat bc god that kid is perceptive but also so sweet and it shows a closeness between them that we haven’t really seen up to that point :’)

4. 4x08 - Christopher goes to Buck

okay the absolute galaxy brain fic plot aside (as in i literally read a fic with this exact premise mere days before the ep aired askdjfh) this was such a lovely scene. and i think it was great foreshadowing for what was to come later in the season because it emphasised that if he can’t talk to eddie then buck is the adult christopher trusts the most and it’s also an Excellent parallel to the michael/bobby/harry scene from s2 where harry is angry at michael and runs to bobby instead

3. 3x10 - “Buck, can I spend Christmas with you?”

god thIS SCENE. kind of like the 4x08 scene it really highlights the fact that if christopher can’t be with eddie then he wants to be with buck and it’s just?????so heartbreaking but also speaks so much to how much he trusts buck too??? and ugh eddie and buck sharing that little look and having that silent parent conversation is so good. (also bonus: all the little moments later at the party with buck eddie and christopher <3)

2. 4x14 - Chris and Buck’s morning routine

oh my godddd. do you know weeks ago i kept imagining what buck and christopher’s day would be like if eddie got hurt and was in hospital (before we knew it would happen) and 911 almost directly delivered on what i wanted???? there’s just something very calm and familiar in that scene. from chris waking buck up on the couch to them eating cereal together in their pjs to christopher teasing buck ugh it’s all so sweet!!!! and i know i keep using that word but i don’t know how else to describe them!!!!! @ 911 please give me that exact scene again in s5 but with eddie involved thank u <3

1. 3x02 - Everything on the firetruck

honestly the reason i prefer sink or swim to the searchers are for the scenes on top of the firetruck and those scenes alone. they’re phenomenal. i love the comfort of buck cuddling chris close and playing I Spy to distract him and their conversation about how christopher never complains and when buck says he’s afraid to tell eddie and chris says buck saved him and everyone else and buck trying to shield christopher from the bodies floating by and the hugs and aksjfh it’s Perfect. i understand the drama~ of buck and chris being separated but i also would’ve been extremely content with 2 eps of them chilling on top of the firetruck until eddie and bobby miraculously drove by on the boat and found them 

also special shoutout to this: